Although consuming a moderate amount of alcohol offers various benefits to people, excessive consumption is harmful to one's health. In addition, drunk driving causes fatal accidents and, in some cases, even death.
As for methods of measuring drunkenness, there is a method of measuring the concentration of alcohol in exhaled air during respiration using a breathalyzer equipped with an alcohol sensor and there is a method of measuring the concentration of alcohol in the blood flow using a laser.
Generally, the former method is usually used for cracking down on drunk driving. In this case, when any driver refuses a sobriety test, the Widmark Equation may be used to estimate a blood alcohol concentration by collecting the blood of the driver with his or her consent.
Accidents caused by operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol at sea or in the air, in addition to vehicular accidents, are also problematic. However, an existing alcohol consumption measurement method requires testing the operator in person and thus, is not suitable for determining whether an operator at a remote location is drunk.
Accordingly, the government is exerting various efforts to prevent operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol at sea or in the air. As one of the efforts, for a vessel, cracking down on a operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol is performed by measuring alcohol consumption before and after operation. However, the measurement is difficult during the time the individual is actively operating the vehicle.
In some cases, the Coast Guard may perform random sobriety checks through direct contact at sea. However, this method is very dangerous due to the difficulty of making vessel-to-vessel contact and a flight risk from the vessel.
Accordingly, determining whether alcohol has been consumed is indirectly ascertained via communication with an operator at sea. However, it is difficult to determine whether alcohol has been consumed when the operator denies drinking alcohol. Thus, there is a need for a method of indirectly and objectively determining whether an operator, even from a long distance, has consumed alcohol.